荀子、韩非子、庄子性恶意识初议

The Awareness of Evil Human Nature in Xun Zi,Han Fei Zi and Zhuang Zi:A Preliminary Analysis

本文所说"性恶意识"不同于"性恶论"。"性恶论"是明确宣称人性为恶的理论,先秦诸子中只有荀子一家。"性恶意识"则是古人对人性黑暗的认识,诸子多家有这样的认识。先秦诸子对人性中的黑暗和危险究竟有多少认识,这是一个以往研究很少关注的问题。荀子"性恶论"的研究一向与这个问题无关。本文选择先秦诸子最有代表性的三家,对此问题作一初步探讨。荀子提出性恶论,虽然在理论上独树一帜,其实对人性黑暗面的认识却很浅。"性恶论"的提出,目的不是探究人性有多少阴暗,而是与孟子派争辩道德的来源。韩非子对人性阴暗面的认识较深,其理论主要源自商君而不是荀子。商、韩都认为人性自私是不可改变的,韩非进一步对人性何以不可改变,人性中有什么毛病,会使教化型政治一定失败,做了自觉探讨。韩非法治和术治思想指向一个共同目标:政治运作客观化,去私人化。这个政治目标某种程度即源于对人性之恶在私人交往中不可战胜的认识。庄子认为人类原始的"浑沌"状态是合于自然的,但"浑沌"早已死亡,人的自然品性早已丧失。人类自上古以来就一直生活在心机与智巧的支配之下。庄子对人性之恶的观察是最深的,这可能与他对人类智巧极为厌憎有关。先秦诸子对人性黑暗有多方面认识,荀子"性恶论"在这个思想系统中其实没有代表性。

The awareness of evil human nature is not the same as the theory of evil human nature, which, in pre-Qin time, was represented only by Xun Zi. The awareness of evil human nature was shared by many scholars at the time. Based on three typical theories of this category, this paper attempts to make a preliminary analysis on the issue. Initiated by Xun Zi, the notion of evil human nature was unique in theory but somewhat superfluous in its exposure of the dark side in human nature. Han Fei Zi' s theory was more profound in this respect, yet his theory originated from Shang Jun, rather than Xun Zi. In Han Fei Zi's further analysis, it was impossible to improve human nature, and any education effort was doomed to fail, due to some fatal flaws in human nature. In Zhuang Zi's mind, the chaos state of primary humans was simply nature. While chaos state was gone, the natural quality in human nature disappeared as a result. And human existence was maneuvered by human cunningness and tricks. Zhuang Zi' s observation of human nature turns to be the keenest. While scholars in pre-Qin time left us rich theories on the ugliness of human nature, Xun Zi's contribution is trifle.